210: Chapter 211 The Golden Gate Symbolizing the [Future]: A Duel of Single and Dual Elemental Magic and the [Tree of Spirits]

The sky was filled with crimson fireballs like falling meteors, carrying the extreme heat meant to incinerate all things as they plummeted toward the Underground World. Gray's [Doomsday Fire Rain] covered a range of hundreds of kilometers within the Underground World. Even the originally humid air was warped by the scorching heat, and the underground rivers and reverse-flow water columns even began to steam with fine white mist, as if they would completely evaporate in the next second.

Bai Ye turned his head to look in the direction of the Tree of Darkness, his pupils shrinking suddenly. He could clearly feel the elemental energy around the Tree of Darkness becoming turbulent, and even Anya, at the heart of the tree, showed a pained expression.

“Don't even think about destroying this!” Bai Ye roared. Using the elemental greatsword in his hand instead of a casting wand, the patterns engraved on the blade lit up with blue and cyan light. He rapidly chanted obscure elven magic incantations, “Advanced Water-Wind Dual-Element Elven Magic—[Water Spirit Ascension]!”

As his voice fell, the underground river that occupied nearly a third of the Underground World instantly boiled. Countless crystalline water droplets leapt from the surface, transforming into fist-sized water element summons. They were transparent throughout, with gentle water elements flowing within them, and their blue eyes held a glimmer of nascent intelligence. Like soldiers following a king's command, they rapidly gathered in the air above the Tree of Darkness, wrapped in cyan wind elements.

Bai Ye swung the blue-glowing elemental greatsword, controlling these water element summons to fuse. The originally scattered droplets quickly condensed into giant water spheres several meters in diameter, forming an airtight water sphere barrier above the Tree of Darkness.

“Boom! Boom! Boom!”

The crimson, scorching fireballs collided with the cyan-wrapped water spheres one after another in mid-air, and violent explosions sounded incessantly. The collision of water and fire produced a massive amount of white steam, which quickly filled the entire Underground World, causing visibility to drop to less than ten meters in an instant. The scalding steam burned Bai Ye's skin, but he didn't care at all, staring fixedly at the collision zone above the Tree of Darkness, constantly controlling new water spheres to fill the gaps in the barrier.

In the areas outside the water sphere barrier's coverage, it had long since turned into a sea of fire. Fluorescent plants burned frantically under the high temperature, making a “sizzling” sound as they turned to ash. The towering stone pillars were scorched black, with dark rubble crumbling off from time to time. Tributaries of the underground river were struck by fireballs, the water evaporating instantly to reveal dried-up riverbeds.

Gray's dragon roar came from within the steam, carrying an arrogant laugh: “Despicable ant, are you protecting that tree? Exposing your weakness like that is truly foolish! Watch as I burn the entire Underground World to scorched earth!”

Gray vigorously flapped his massive gray dragon wings, dispersing the steam in the air. He continuously chanted Dragon Language incantations, and extreme elemental energy gathered before him. At times it transformed into sharp wood element earth spikes glinting with cold light, at times it condensed into water element ice crystals wrapped in cold air, at times it became high-speed vibrating wind element blades, at times it turned into light element lasers flashing with intense light, at times it became dark element bombs eroding the environment, and at times it turned into wood element thorns that continuously spread and lashed out, bombarding the direction of Bai Ye and the Tree of Darkness. This was the ultimate single-element Dragon Magic—pure, violent, and carrying the power to crush everything.

Bai Ye, holding the elemental greatsword, moved like a ghost through the Dragon Magic. With his mastery of the [True Divine Sword Technique], every swing of his sword carried dual-element elven magic such as Dark-Fire, Water-Earth, and Light-Wind. His control of elven magic was refined to the extreme: he used the Water-Earth dual-element [Source of the Swamp] to cover the earth spikes, used the Dark-Fire dual-element [Darkness Flame] to melt the ice crystals, used the Earth-Wood dual-element [Thorn Rock Wall] to block the wind blades, used the Wind-Water dual-element [Hanging Sky Ice Crystal] to refract the light lasers, used the Light-Wind dual-element [Purifying Wind] to eliminate the dark bombs, and used the Wind-Fire dual-element [Flame Tornado] to burn away the wood thorns. This was the perfect combination of elven magic and human swordsmanship—agile, precise, and possessing the resilience to overcome strength with weakness.

The back-and-forth battle between the man and the dragon became an ultimate Gambling of power and skill. Gray's dragon body had been strengthened by unknown crystals; even when struck by Bai Ye's dual-element magic Sword Qi, it only left a shallow scratch that quickly recovered under his powerful self-healing ability. Meanwhile, although the coordination between Bai Ye's [True Divine Sword Technique] and elven magic was exquisite, it required the consumption of massive amounts of elemental and mental energy. Furthermore, Bai Ye had to constantly divide his attention to control the elven magic protecting the Tree of Darkness behind him, unable to afford the slightest negligence.

The stalemate gradually began to tilt. As a dragon, Gray possessed physical and mental energy far exceeding that of a human; continuous high-intensity attacks were no pressure for him. In contrast, Bai Ye's breathing grew increasingly ragged, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and the light on the elemental greatsword gradually dimmed, his speed of controlling and releasing magic noticeably slowing. In a moment of distraction, Gray's flame-wrapped claws broke through his defense and slammed hard against his shoulder. Bai Ye let out a muffled groan, his body flying backward like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily onto the ground beside the Tree of Darkness, blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

“Pfft—” Bai Ye coughed up a mouthful of blood and struggled to climb up, only to find that his shoulder had lost all sensation. Gray's figure slowly landed before him, a massive dragon claw raised, with dark elements carrying the aura of destruction wrapped around it, striking toward Bai Ye's head: “The game is over, human. Your life ends here! Die!”

At this critical juncture, a majestic surge of green wood element energy suddenly erupted from the Tree of Darkness, sweeping through the entire Underground World like a tsunami. The massive trunk of the Tree of Darkness flashed with dazzling green wood element light as it grew rapidly, every leaf shimmering with seven-colored light dominated by green. Taking the opportunity of strengthening Anya, the Tree of Darkness completed its own evolution, now evolving into the [Tree of Elves] that controlled all seven elements. Furthermore, the Dark Elves it would give birth to in the future would no longer fear the light element, becoming [Elves] with affinity for all seven elements.

The wood element energy cocoon, which had been trembling slightly from the aftershocks of the battle, shattered completely. A slender figure slowly walked out from the heart of the Tree of Elves—Anya! Brilliant green wood element light flashed around her, her silver-white long hair fluttering in the wind, and her beautiful eyes were filled with tenderness and determination. Having accepted the transformation of the Tree of Elves, she had not only removed the Dark Elf's rejection of the light element but had also awakened a terrifying Talent for seven-element affinity!

“Brother!” Anya's voice was crisp and powerful. She immediately saw Bai Ye lying injured on the ground beside the Tree of Elves. A flash of anxiety crossed her eyes as she ran to his side, instantly releasing the healing-type Intermediate wood element elven magic [Natural Healing]. Feeling his injuries rapidly recovering, Bai Ye struggled to his feet and raised his sword once more to face the gray dragon in the distance.

Anya watched her brother Bai Ye's actions and showed a look of determination. Standing before the Tree of Elves, she crossed her hands over her chest and chanted an obscure and difficult Super Elven Magic—one recorded only by the Tree of Elves, a legendary seven-element Fusion magic that only a Dark Elf Empress could use. “Super Seven-Element Elven Magic—[Elemental Blast]!”